New Haven judge sentences Wethersfield man for bomb hoax calls

Published 6:54 pm, Tuesday, October 6, 2015

NEW HAVEN >> A Wethersfield man was sentenced Tuesday to 12 months and one day in prison followed by three years of supervised release for participating in “swatting” incidents across the country in 2014.

Swatting is “the making of a hoax call to elicit an emergency response based on the false report of an ongoing critical incident,” according to court documents.

Matthew Tollis, 22, was involved with a group known as Team Crucifix or Die, that regularly researched schools and institutions to target with threatening phone calls in order to elicit an emergency response.

The defense argued that Tollis got involved with the group because he previously had been a target and he felt the best way to stop being harassed was to join the group, the defense sentencing memo stated.

Tollis was arrested in September 2014 and pleaded guilty to the offense on June 23. Tollis admitted to aiding in the identification of potential institutions to make the threatening phone calls.

“Swatting is not a schoolboy prank, it’s a federal crime,” said U.S. Attorney Deirdra Daly, according to a press release from her office. “These hoaxes have expended critical law enforcement resources and caused severe emotional distress for thousands of victims.”

“It is our hope that this prosecution and the knowledge that this defendant will serve time in prison and live with a felony conviction for the remainder of his life will deter others from engaging in this immature, dangerous and criminal behavior,” Daly added.

According to the government’s sentencing memo, Tollis was personally involved in seven different swatting calls regarding schools and convention centers across the country:

• Jan. 14, 2014: Tollis called Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas, to report a student had a firearm and a bomb. Special weapons and tactical teams responded to the school.

• Jan. 15, 2014: Tollis called the Holmdel Police Department in Holmdel, New Jersey. He claimed to be a student who had been assaulted by a masked man in a bathroom who was threatening to blow up the school.

• Jan. 16, 2014: The entire Allentown Regional School District in New Jersey was evacuated after Tollis called with a bomb threat.

• April 3, 2014: The University of Connecticut went on lockdown for three hours after Tollis made a call to the admissions office stating that there were explosives in the admissions building.

• April 3, 2014: Tollis called the admissions department of Boston University claiming to have an assault rifle on campus and that there were explosives in the admissions building. The school was evacuated while authorities investigated the threats.

• April 11, 2014: Tollis called the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center claiming to be an angry Iraqi citizen who had placed explosives in the center and was waiting outside with an assault rifle.

The government urged the court to consider the impact on victims and the allocation of significant law enforcement response to every threat that was made, according to court documents.

The defense asked the court to consider that Tollis has been in therapy since the offenses occurred and he has been fully compliant with law enforcement.